News Will Butler VS Sasha Frere-Jones
posted by on October 29 at 14:20 PM
William Butler (not to be confused with brother Win), guitarist/bassist/percussionist/synth-player of the Arcade Fire responded to the now-infamous Sasha Frere-Jones article.
Being as I am in the Arcade Fire, I prickle a little bit at your statement that “[i]f there is a trace of soul, blues, reggae, or funk in Arcade Fire, it must be philosophical; it certainly isn’t audible.” In a somewhat … I dunno, is it childish to respond to critics this way? Anyway. I’ve attached an MP3 with parts of our songs that I think steal quite blatantly from black people’s music from all over the globe.
And also:
…don’t forget that miscegenation need [not] be across color lines. Poles and Italians and the Irish don’t mix, traditionally. I think an artist like Joanna Newsom is stealing Old World folk-style music (dare I say Irish?) and mixing it with more American Folk, which is partly white and partly black and partly mysterious (which you touch on in your article).
Whatever you thought of the original article, his letter is one of the more intelligent responses I’ve read, although I’d be interested to read it in its entirety. The MP3 is definitely interesting. Also, Butler’s comments about Joanna Newsom (positive comments?) only reinforce what you should already know, why I also love her, and why you should probably be heading down to Benaroya Hall in a few hours.
Props to Brooklyn Vegan for being on the ball…
"parts of our songs that I think steal quite blatantly from black people’s music"
when this line of reason represents someones DEFENSE of their music, we have gone into the rabbit hole.
ha!
And now Molly's added a disclaimer for the rest of the music staff (Jonathan, seriously!), making this whole thread look that much dumber. Welcome to the Internets, indeed.
And now, with the original #2 and 3 gone, the new #2 and 3 are without context. Oh well.
I trust the MP3 includes the little Motown beat they fall into at the end of "Wake Up".
omg indie rock is, like, SO white! And liking TV on the Radio doesn't make up for it. Neither does that lead singer for the Deers.
Sheesh, neither does having creepy-black-credentials-in-residence Chuck on your staff.
You're a bunch on privileged whining honkeys, deal with it.
I re-read the original Sasha Frere-Jones and it was even more pointless and weird the second time.
Instead of the four pages he wrote, he could have just said: "Last night I saw this group called The Arcade Fire. They were OK I guess, but the whole time I couldn't stop think 'MAN these guys could use a 5-string bass player.'"
""parts of our songs that I think steal quite blatantly from black people’s music"
when this line of reason represents someones DEFENSE of their music, we have gone into the rabbit hole. "
Uh, surely a Line Out writer should understand the concepts of irony and sarcasm. God knows you lot use plenty of both yourselves.
They do have a song entitled "Haiti." Is that what Butler's talking about?
Ohhh, and he sure did sound defensive...
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).